Rock-Scissors-Paper and evolutionarily stable strategies

Abstract

This paper argues that Rock-Scissors-Paper is a stochastic game with discounting. Provided that the discount factor is less than 1, it has an evolutionarily stable strategy (ESS). This result contrasts with the one-shot normal form game, which is the customary representation of Rock-Scissors-Paper. It reconciles the finding that mutant players who tie against each other forever are never observed in real-world play of Rock-Scissors-Paper with a basic prediction of evolutionary game theory. © 2012 Elsevier B.V.